The present invention relates to an apparatus for the labelling of containers. Apparatus of this type have long been known from the prior art. In this case, labels are attached for example in the form of self-adhering labels or even with the aid of an adhesive to an external periphery of the containers. It is customary from the prior art for these labels to be unrolled in an already printed form from a roll of labels and to be attached already printed to the container. In recent times, however, there has been an increasing tendency first to attach the labels unprinted to the containers and only then to print on the container. In this way, WO 99/08935 describes a method of attaching substances to a container In this case different substances are attached in succession to the containers.
DE 10 2006 001 223 A1 describes an apparatus for printing bottles or similar containers. In this case a print head is used which uses an electrostatic print head with a plurality of individual nozzles capable of being actuated individually for the controlled discharge of printing ink
A method of labelling containers on the periphery is likewise known from DE 10 2006 038 249 A1. In this case an endless band of labels is first printed and is then wound deflected as a respective label around the container.
DE 10 2005 041 221 A1 describes a method of producing labels with RFID transponders. In this case at least part of the RFID transponder is formed during the production of the label.
A method of labelling bottles and similar containers as well an apparatus for performing this method is known from EP 1 806 291 A1. In this case the printing of labels is carried out by printing on a label starting material in a labelling station by a printing unit arranged there, before the labels are attached to the containers. This technique is likewise already known from WO 99/08935 named above.
In this way, in the prior art the labels are printed either only after they have been attached to the containers, or on the other hand immediately before being attached to the containers. In the prior art, therefore, printing systems, such as in particular digital printing systems, are frequently integrated directly in the labelling unit or in the machine. A drawback of this procedure is that, in the case where a digital printing system is used on a labelling unit or on a labelling machine, when the rolls of a unit are changed the latter has to have its speed reduced in order to achieve a secure adhesion of the start of a new roll of labels to the start of an old roll of labels. This leads to a considerable loss of efficiency of the plant, which also depends upon the performance of the plant. In addition, the printing systems arranged in the labelling units are accessible only with difficulty and assembly procedures are therefore difficult to carry out. This has been highly problematic until now, particularly in the case of the printing devices.
The object of the present invention is therefore to make available an apparatus for the labelling of containers with a higher degree of efficiency. In addition, the outlay on assembly and repair should also be reduced.